Trump tariffs dwell: Starmer warns ‘world as we knew it has gone’ – whereas EU readies retaliatory measures
Sir Keir Starmer has said the “world as we knew it has gone” after US president Donald Trump slapped sweeping tariffs on dozens of trading partners including the UK.
Sir Keir has said that his government stands “ready to use industrial policy to help shelter British business from the storm.”
It comes after the US president put a 10 per cent tariff on all UK goods exports to America, including a 25 per cent tariff on all British carmakers.
Labour minister Darren Jones said that a trade war was in “no-one’s interests” and said that globalisation as we’ve known it has come to an end.
However Reuters has reported that the EU is considering retaliatory tariffs on $28 billion worth of US imports. A list of US goods that could be slapped with tariffs will reportedly be presented to EU countries late on Monday.
The EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said the Europe “stands ready to defend its interests through proportionate countermeasures if necessary”.
Why did Russia escape Trump’s tariffs?
Almost no countries were spared from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs; even small, uninhabited islands in the Indian Ocean were included in the exhaustive list. But one country was notably missing: Russia.
One of the United States’ largest adversaries was omitted from the list of countries slapped with even the 10 percent baseline tariff – a move that raised some eyebrows given Trump’s previously friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But other countries, including the uninhabited Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, which have a population of 59 and Svalbard and Jan Mayen, islands in the Arctic Circle with approximately 2,000 people, were hit with tariffs.
Trump tariffs: Who will be hardest hit by China-US trade war?
China has announced 34 per cent tariffs on imported US goods in the wake of president Donald Trump’s increased taxes on Chinese goods coming into America.
Who will do the best or worst out of the trade war? Data correspondent Alicja Hagopian and political correspondent Millie Cooke take a look.
Previously, retaliatory tariffs from China only covered specific industries such as fuel and agricultural products. Now, all US exports to China will be hit.
The US imports far more from China than it exports. In 2024, goods exported to China were worth $143.5bn, according to the US Trade Representative office.
Meanwhile, the US bought three times as many goods ($438.9bn) in the same period.
Read more here:
Cheese, wine and whiskey: How your shopping basket could be affected by Trump’s tariffs
Tariffs that will make exporting goods to America more costly could hit shopping baskets in the UK as producers around the globe look to recoup the extra costs.
Donald Trump‘s levies mean industries worldwide are scrambling to assess what the impact on them will be and there is no doubt that consumers in the US will see prices there rise as manufacturers pass on those costs to the buyer.
But that in turn means that many might opt out of paying higher prices, while businesses in America might cancel orders coming in from overseas to avoid paying those extra costs. That might mean raising prices elsewhere to reduce their losses.
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Trump’s 20% tariff casts shadow over Italian wine exports
The outlook for Prosecco, Brunello di Montalcino and other Italian wines in the United States is increasingly gloomy, producers and importers said, following President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 20 per cent tariff on European imports.
Italy exports more wine to the U.S. than any other country. Last year, it sold 2bn euros ($2.2bn) worth of wines, spirits and vinegars in the U.S. market, a quarter of its total worldwide exports, according to trade group Federvini.
Italian producers and US importers gathered at a wine fair in Verona, in the north-eastern Veneto region this weekend, said business had already been slowed by the fear of US tariffs and they fear more lasting damage as the duties take effect.
Under the announced levies, Italian wine revenues would fall by some 323m euros per year, said Lamberto Frescobaldi, chairman of the Italian Wine Union lobby.
Wine traders and producers are pinning their hopes on a deal between Europe and the U.S. to scrap or reduce the tariffs.
“Hopefully, the EU will not retaliate – a trade war would be difficult to navigate,” Simone Luchetti, president of US importer Banville, said
Sir Keir agrees with new Canada PM trade war ‘in no-one’s interest’
A Downing Street spokesperson said:“The Prime Minister spoke to the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney this evening.
“They discussed their commitment to working together to maintain global economic stability in the wake of the announcement from the United States this week.
“An all-out trade war is in no-one’s interest, they agreed.
“Both agreed on the importance of free and open trade between like-minded nations, and the Prime Minister stated that trading blocs such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership will be important in this new global era.
“Prime Minister Carney thanked the Prime Minister for his leadership on Ukraine and reaffirmed his commitment to Canada playing a role in the Coalition of the Willing.
“Looking ahead, the Prime Minister said he was looking forward to travelling to Canada for the G7 Summit in June. They agreed to stay in close contact.”
Musk lashes out at architect of Trump’s tariffs in first public comments about policy
There’s trouble in Trumpland; Tesla CEO and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, has taken public swipes at Donald Trump’s adviser on trade and manufacturing, Peter Navarro, who helped shape the president’s reciprocal tariff policy that tanked markets across the world.
Musk is typically vocal in his support and defense of the president, but has been quiet since Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement that killed $2.5 trillion from the U.S. stock market — a loss of value that cost the Tesla CEO more than $30bn, according to CNBC.
On X, which Musk owns, he took swipes at Navarro, a Harvard-educated economist who advises Trump on trade. Navarro who was originally tapped for a spot in the White House by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is the author of books on China and the economic threats he says the nation poses to the U.S.
Over 50 nations want to start trade talks with US after tariffs, Trump officials say
More than 50 nations have reached out to the White House to begin trade talks since US president Donald Trump rolled out sweeping new tariffs, top officials said.
The officials defended levies that wiped out nearly $6 trillion in value from US stocks last week and downplayed economic fallout.
Mr Trump’s economic advisors tried to portray the tariffs as a savvy repositioning of the US in the global trade order.
Neither Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent nor the other officials named the countries or offered details about the talks.
Irish finance minister rules out wage subsidy scheme to help sectors hit by tariffs
Ireland’s Minister for Finance has ruled out a wage subsidy scheme for sectors affected by US tariffs, saying it is not appropriate now.
Paschal Donohoe said he is not aiming to bring forward a proposal that would introduce supports similar to those brought in during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It comes as government ministers and businesses grapple with the 20 per cent tariffs imposed by president Donald Trump.
“I don’t believe an economy-wide wage subsidy scheme in the way we had during the Covid pandemic would be appropriate,” he told Irish media RTE.
“I am hopeful that our efforts to engage with employers, in combined with the high level of employment that we already have here in Ireland, will offer a sufficient response back.
“But what we will do is we will evaluate what steps are necessary, but we need to avoid doing anything that has such a cost that it, in turn, could create other difficulties for us in the time ahead. We have to keep our economy safe.
“That means supporting and protecting jobs, and it means keeping our public finances safe.”
‘Trump not trying to crash the stock market’, says White House chief
President Donald Trump is not intentionally trying to crash the stock market, the White House national economic council director Kevin Hassett has said.
Speaking on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Mr Hassett said the stock market crash following Mr Trump’s tariff announcement was “not a strategy”.
He was questioned about it after Mr Trump shared a video on social media platform Truth Social that claimed the president was causing the markets to plummet as part of a larger economic plan.
Mr Hassett insisted: “He’s not trying to tank the market. He’s trying to deliver for American workers. It’s not a strategy for the markets to crash”.
France suggests stricter regulations on US Big Tech in light of tariffs
France’s economy and finance minister Eric Lombard has suggested imposing stricter regulations on US Big Tech’s use of data in response to president Donald Trump’s tariffs.
In an interview with Le Journal Du Dimanche, Mr Lombard said: “We may strengthen certain administrative requirements or regulate the use of data”.
He added the EU could also “tax certain activities” but did not specify what these would be.
Mr Lombard also told French media that Trump’s tariffs could cause tax revenues to fall in France, predicting “then GDP would fall compared to forecasts, which would worsen the deficit”.
